Pope Leo took to the stage carrying a large wood cross.

Dear Commons Community,

Hundreds of thousands of young faithful feted Pope Leo XIV like a rock star yesterday at an open-air prayer vigil outside Rome, after the head of the Catholic Church made a dramatic entrance by helicopter.

Pilgrims began crying and cheering when the white military helicopter descended over the sprawling, open-air site in Rome’s eastern outskirts.  As reported by The Associated Press.

“We’re too happy to be here! Seeing the pope, that’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity!” she asserted happily to Agence France-Presse (AFP). 

Event organizers said people had continued to arrive during the vigil and that it was possible that attendance numbers had reached one million. 

Most pilgrims said they would camp overnight for a Sunday morning mass at the site led by Leo. That will mark the culmination of the week-long youth pilgrimage, a key event in the Catholic Church’s Jubilee holy year.

Some in the crowd were so far away, they could not see the massive stage with a golden arch and towering cross that dominated the vast open area — which at over 500,000 square meters was the size of around 70 football fields.

“I’m so happy to be here, even if I’m a bit far from the pope. I knew what to expect!” British student Andy Hewellyn told AFP.

“The main thing is that we’re all together,” he said ahead of the pope’s appearance, as other young people nearby played guitars, sang, or snoozed in the sun.

“Pope Francis told us to ‘get off your couches,’ and that really gave me a boost,” he said. 

Throughout the week, attendees have participated in Church-planned events, such as confession at Circus Maximus, one of Rome’s top tourist spots.

On Friday, approximately 1,000 priests were on hand, with 200 white gazebos serving as makeshift confessionals lining the hippodrome where chariot races were once held in Ancient Rome.

The pilgrimage unfolds as under-30s navigate economic uncertainty, climate change, and ongoing international conflict, with some pilgrims travelling from war-torn areas like Syria and Ukraine. 

Samarei Semos, 29, who said she had travelled three days from her native Belize to get to Rome, said she hoped Leo would have something strong to say about “third world countries”. 

The Vatican said that before the vigil the pope had met and prayed with travelers accompanying an 18-year-old Egyptian pilgrim who died Friday night. 

Rai News reported that the young woman had died of a heart attack on a bus while returning to her lodging from an event in Rome.

Amid tight security, more than 4,300 volunteers and over 1,000 police were watching over the vigil, organizers said. 

A spectacular event for Pope Leo!

Tony

Tracking Trump’s college funding freezes

Dear Commons Community,

The Trump administration is freezing $339 million in research grants to the University of California, Los Angeles, accusing the school of civil rights violations related to antisemitism, affirmative action and women’s sports, according to a person familiar with the matter.

The federal government has frozen or paused federal funding over similar allegations against several private colleges (see table above) but this is one of the rare cases it has targeted a public university.

Several federal agencies notified UCLA this week that they were suspending grants over civil rights concerns, including $240 million from the Department of Health and Human Services and the National Institutes of Health, according to the person, who spoke about internal deliberations on the condition of anonymity.

The Trump administration recently announced the U.S. Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division found UCLA violated the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment and Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, “by acting with deliberate indifference in creating a hostile educational environment for Jewish and Israeli students.”

Last week, Columbia agreed to pay $200 million as part of a settlement to resolve investigations into the government’s allegations that the school violated federal antidiscrimination laws. The agreement also restores more than $400 million in research grants.

The Trump administration plans to use its deal with Columbia as a template for other universities, with financial penalties that are now seen as an expectation.

The National Science Foundation said in a statement it informed UCLA that it was suspending funding awards because the school isn’t in line with the agency’s priorities.

UCLA’s chancellor Julio Frenk called the government’s decision “deeply disappointing.”

“With this decision, hundreds of grants may be lost, adversely affecting the lives and life-changing work of UCLA researchers, faculty and staff,” he said in a statement.

The Department of Energy said in its letter it found several “examples of noncompliance” and faulted UCLA for inviting applicants to disclose their race in personal statements and for considering factors including family income and ZIP code. Affirmative action in college admissions was outlawed in California in 1996 and struck down by the Supreme Court in 2023.

The letter said the school has taken steps that amount to “a transparent attempt to engage in race-based admissions in all but name,” disadvantaging white, Jewish and Asian American applicants.

It also said UCLA fails to promote an environment free from antisemitism and discriminates against women by allowing transgender women to compete on women’s teams.

Frenk said that in its letter the federal government “claims antisemitism and bias as the reasons” to freeze the funding but “this far-reaching penalty of defunding life-saving research does nothing to address any alleged discrimination.”

Earlier this week, UCLA reached a $6 million settlement with three Jewish students and a Jewish professor who sued the university arguing it violated their civil rights by allowing pro-Palestinian protesters in 2024 to block their access to classes and other areas on campus.

UCLA initially had argued that it had no legal responsibility over the issue because protesters, not the university, blocked Jewish students’ access to some areas. The university also worked with law enforcement to thwart attempts to set up new protest camps.

The university has said that it’s committed to campus safety and inclusivity and will continue to implement recommendations.

Tony

(AP Video: Alfonso Nqunjana)

  Easter Island Moai. Pablo Cozzaglio – Getty Images

Dear Commons Community,

Just when experts thought they knew every moai (monolithic human statues) on Rapa Nui, otherwise known as Easter Island, a dried-up lakebed kept them on their toes. These statues—largely made of a stone formed from volcanic ash and dust called tuff—pepper the island, with more than 1,000 already found and logged.

Finding a new one came as a surprise. And a bit of a mystery.  As reported by Popular Mechanics and Good Morning America.

“We think we know all the moai, but then a new one turns up, a new discovery, and in this case, in the lake, at the statue quarry,” Terry Hunt, professor of archeology at the University of Arizona, told Good Morning America. “There have been no moai found in the dry bed or in what was previously a lake, so this is a first.”

And it may not be the last.

As the area undergoes drying, the lakebed in question has given up its moai. And this opportunity may occur again. “Under the dry conditions that we have now, we may find more,” Hunt said. “They’ve been hidden by the tall reeds that grow in the lakebed and prospecting with something that can detect what’s under the ground surface may tell us that there are in fact more moai in the lakebed sediments. When there’s one moai in the lake, there’s probably more.”

The newly discovered moai is also one of the smallest found, leading experts to believe that hidden within these reeds is the potential for a bounty of new moai.

Created by the Rapu Nui people, moai have a mythical legend attached to them and have gained worldwide renown for their appearances. Some believe these moai were given special powers to walk across land and end up in their resting place. Whether or not the legend has legs, there are many theories regarding how these statues moved from building sites to various locations.

While the largest of the statues weighs 86 tons and rises 32 feet tall, most of the moai average about half that size. About 95 percent are carved from the volcanic tuff, but a few are made from basalt. Each one is unique, created by carvers to represent the characteristics of the person it resembled, often a chieftain or key leader.

The finishing touch on moai was the inclusion of special stones for the eyes, not carved or placed until the statue found its home.

Even though experts thought they knew the locations of all of these moai homes, finding this new, small one in the lakebed proves some had remained a complete mystery.

“It’s here in the lake and nobody knows this exists,” Salvador Atan Hito, vice president of Ma’u Henua, the group that oversees the island’s national park, told Good Morning America, “even the ancestors, our grandparents don’t know [about] that one.”

We learn something new every day.

Tony

Pete Hegseth.  Photo courtesy of the Associated Press. (Mark Schiefelbein / AP)

Dear Commons Community,

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has been discussing the idea of running for governor next year in Tennessee according to two unnamed sources.

If Hegseth were to follow through on the discussions, it would amount to a major changer at the department that oversees the American military and millions of federal employees. The Defense Department bars civilian employees from running for political office, meaning Hegseth would have to resign to do so.  As reported by NBC News.

In a statement, Sean Parnell, the Pentagon’s chief spokesman, said, “Hegseth’s focus remains solely on serving under President Trump.”

One of the sources said their discussion with Hegseth happened within the past three weeks and that it was serious, not simply spitballing ideas. The other person, who also characterized it as serious, wouldn’t say when they had spoken — except that it was since Hegseth became defense secretary in January. The two sources, along with others in this article, were granted anonymity to speak candidly.

The discussions centered on what it would take to run. One person said they discussed the eligibility requirements to run for governor of Tennessee and Hegseth’s chances of winning. The other person said they talked with Hegseth about the realities of a campaign.

The people who have spoken with Hegseth said he has specifically mentioned a possible campaign for governor in Tennessee, where he lives. The state has an open race for governor next year, though there are eligibility requirements for candidates that Hegseth might not meet.

Ultimately, both sources said, it was unclear after their conversations with Hegseth whether he would take the leap. But they both said he has contemplated it.

Parnell said in the statement: “Fake news NBC is so desperate for attention, they are shopping around a made up story… again. Only two options exist: either the ‘sources’ are imaginary or these reporters are getting punked. Secretary Hegseth’s focus remains solely on serving under President Trump and advancing the America First mission at the Department of Defense.”

Others in Hegseth’s orbit said he doesn’t plan to launch a campaign. A person who spoke with the secretary last week asked him about speculation that he was looking for an off-ramp from being defense secretary, such as running for political office in Tennessee. This person said Hegseth was “very, very clear” that he wasn’t going to run and denied even considering it. The idea, this person said, is “totally off the table.”

And when asked, a longtime Trump adviser familiar with political discussions around Hegseth said he won’t run for office in Tennessee.

Hegseth, a former Army National Guard officer and Fox News host, has campaigned for political office before. He ran for the U.S. Senate in his home state, Minnesota, in 2012 and withdrew after he failed to win the GOP nomination. Minnesota also has an open Senate seat in 2026.

Hegseth’s political considerations come after a somewhat rocky first six months as defense secretary.

During his confirmation process, allegations surfaced around his treatment of his second wife, financial mismanagement, sexual misconduct and alcohol consumption — all of which he vehemently denied.

Since his confirmation, Hegseth has faced controversy over the abrupt firings of his top staff, accusations of chaos at the Pentagon and questions about his handling of sensitive military plans after he shared information about a military operation in Yemen on an unsecured group chat on Signal. A Pentagon inspector general’s report on the Signal chat, including the classification of the information Hegseth shared, could be released as early as next month.

Hegseth also suspended aid to Ukraine three times, but the White House reversed those decisions, NBC News reported.

Trump has said publicly that he maintains confidence in Hegseth, although privately he has at times expressed frustrations with him, NBC News has reported.

Politico recently reported that Trump and his inner circle stand by Hegseth. The New York Times also reported Saturday that Hegseth continues to clash with the military’s top generals over his personnel and promotion choices and what are seen as partisan priorities.

If Hegseth were to declare his candidacy for office, Trump has several replacement options, at least temporarily. They include Army Secretary Dan Driscoll, a close friend of Vice President JD Vance’s, or the Pentagon’s policy chief, Elbridge Colby, according to four people familiar with the matter. Both were confirmed by the Senate for their current jobs and could serve as acting defense secretary for a period without another confirmation hearing.

Hegseth could face eligibility requirements if he wants to run for office in Tennessee.

Tennessee law says candidates for governor must have lived in the state for seven years before the election. Hegseth moved to the state around three years ago; public records show that his name is linked to a suburban Nashville address last sold in the middle of 2022.

Tennessee Republican Party bylaws also have a series of requirements for Republican primary candidates, including having voted in three of the last four most recent statewide Republican primary elections in which the candidate is eligible to vote. There have been statewide Republican primaries in Tennessee in 2022 and 2024.

Those bylaws have blocked other candidates from seeking office in the past, including in 2022, when the state GOP removed Trump-backed Morgan Ortagus, a former State Department spokeswoman, from the congressional primary ballot after she had recently moved to the state.

Hegseth would be likely to face challenges from within his own party if he decided to run for governor.

Republican Rep. John Rose is running and has lent himself $5 million to bolster his campaign. Sen. Marsha Blackburn also has long considered a campaign for governor. Blackburn, Tennessee’s senior senator, has served in public office for more than 25 years and holds considerable sway among the state’s GOP.

A source familiar with Blackburn’s plans said she intends to announce her next steps in August.

If Blackburn does decide to run and she were to win, she would have to vacate her Senate seat in 2027 and appoint a successor until a special election. That could provide another political option for Hegseth in his home state. Tennessee requires candidates for the Senate to have lived in the state for at least three years.

Scott Golden, chairman of the Tennessee Republican Party, said he hasn’t spoken with Trump about a potential Hegseth run.

“Nobody has called to talk about this as a reality,” Golden said, adding, “I don’t know where it’s coming from, and maybe it will be real.”

Golden said that the last time he spoke with Hegseth was on election night last year. He was last at the White House in April, he said, for a tour.

“Right now, it’s just not something that we’re even thinking about,” Golden said.

Another Republican operative in Tennessee was skeptical that Hegseth’s running for office was well developed or far along, saying they hadn’t heard anything about it.

Blackburn is close with Glenn Jacobs, the Republican mayor of Knox County and a former professional wrestler, and she could appoint him to her Senate seat, according to a person familiar with the situation. This person said Blackburn hasn’t had any conversations with Hegseth about an appointment.

A person close to Blackburn said it was premature to discuss whom she would choose as her successor.

“There has never been a conversation of anyone being appointed,” this person said, adding that Blackburn has also not spoken with anyone, including Hegseth, about his potentially running for office in Tennessee.

“I know they talk,” the person said, “but never about this.”

If Hegseth was to run for political office in Tennessee, it would give him and the Trump administration a graceful way to leave the Defense Department.

Tony

Joaquin Phoenix in  Eddington.  Photo:  The New York Times.

Dear Commons Community,

Last night, my wife, Elaine and I, saw the movie Eddington, directed by Ari Aster and starring Joaquin Phoenix. Here is an excerpt from a New York Times review.

“The first and maybe only true jump scare in Ari Aster’s “Eddington” comes right at the start. A barefoot old man trudges down the center of a road running through an empty Western town. He’s ranting and incoherently raving as he climbs a craggy hill silhouetted against a twilight sky. He gazes, or maybe glares, out at the town below.

And then, the jolt, via text onscreen: LATE MAY, 2020.

Buckle up and hang on. Now we know why the streets are empty, and the man’s ravings take on some new dimension: Maybe he’s just regular unhinged, or maybe he’s been driven into lunacy by the last eight or so weeks of madness. Or maybe he’s the only sane one left. Who can tell? By late May 2020, even the most unflappable among us felt one raisin short of a fruitcake.

We were living with an invisible and potentially extinction-level threat, people were dying and the sirens were unrelenting. But we were also surrounded by screens from which blared real facts, half-facts, fact-shaped nonsense and full-on gobbledygook. It all felt more real than reality itself, which in turn felt like something we had once seen in a movie.

That feeling of unreal reality is what “Eddington” sets out to capture, and that is Aster’s specialty.”

It is a indeed a jolt of movie and no hostages are taken. If you like unpredictability in a film, Eddington is for you.  Below is a full review.

Tony

————————————————————————————

The New York Times

Eddington Review: Once Upon a Time in the Pandemic

Ari Aster returns with a dystopian western farce about a world gone mad that you definitely remember.

By Alissa Wilkinson

Published July 17, 2025. Updated July 25, 2025

Eddington

NYT Critic’s Pick

Directed by Ari Aster

The first and maybe only true jump scare in Ari Aster’s “Eddington” comes right at the start. A barefoot old man trudges down the center of a road running through an empty Western town. He’s ranting and incoherently raving as he climbs a craggy hill silhouetted against a twilight sky. He gazes, or maybe glares, out at the town below.

And then, the jolt, via text onscreen: LATE MAY, 2020.

Buckle up and hang on. Now we know why the streets are empty, and the man’s ravings take on some new dimension: Maybe he’s just regular unhinged, or maybe he’s been driven into lunacy by the last eight or so weeks of madness. Or maybe he’s the only sane one left. Who can tell? By late May 2020, even the most unflappable among us felt one raisin short of a fruitcake.

We were living with an invisible and potentially extinction-level threat, people were dying and the sirens were unrelenting. But we were also surrounded by screens from which blared real facts, half-facts, fact-shaped nonsense and full-on gobbledygook. It all felt more real than reality itself, which in turn felt like something we had once seen in a movie.

That feeling of unreal reality is what “Eddington” sets out to capture, and that is Aster’s specialty. He was introduced to us as a horror director with 2018’s “Hereditary” (family and demonic horror) and 2019’s “Midsommar” (relationship and folk horror), but in 2023 he swerved into obviously personal territory with “Beau Is Afraid” — basically therapy journals dumped out on a table and come to hilarious, psychotically anxious life.

I love all of these movies, clearly designed to be feel-bad flicks and also provide twisted catharsis. It is hard to have a medium-size reaction to an Aster joint, and perhaps never more than with “Eddington.” This one is a western, centering on Joe Cross (Joaquin Phoenix), the beleaguered asthmatic sheriff of the titular New Mexico town. He lives with his depressed wife, Louise (Emma Stone), who makes weird little dolls and sells them on the internet, and her mother, Dawn (Deirdre O’Connell), who moved in with them when the pandemic started and has gotten really into YouTube conspiracy theorists. (“Coronavirus, they used that word in 2019!” she tells her daughter and son-in-law over breakfast, by way of convincing them that this is all some kind of … well, who knows.)

Joe harbors a simmering resentment toward Eddington’s incumbent mayor, Ted Garcia (Pedro Pascal), who is not a bad guy particularly but just sort of annoying: tall, good looking, well off, performatively liberal and, crucially, a former boyfriend of Louise’s, from 20 years ago. Joe is also annoyed about the countywide mask mandate, given there haven’t been any Covid cases in Eddington, and more annoyed about the way people keep yelling at him to put on his mask when he’s in his truck.

Joe is frustrated by how the town feels empty, with storefronts signs that say things like “CLOSED UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE BY DR. FAUCI” in the windows next to others that say “STRONGER TOGETHER.” He is worried about Louise, who spends all day cooped up with Dawn; they seem to be slipping under the spell of a kind of wellness influencer, or maybe cult leader, named Vernon Jefferson Peak (Austin Butler). Everything is getting under Joe’s skin.

One day he cracks and records a Facebook video announcing that he’ll be running against Ted for mayor. At the same time, the unrest prompted by the murder of George Floyd has reached the socially conscious teens of Eddington, and their activism collides with other folks in town. It seems like everyone is certain that “they” — the bad guys they see on their news network or social media platform of choice — are headed for them here in Eddington, aiming to destroy their preferred way of life. OK. So what if they are?

The plot of this movie is weirdly hard to describe, probably because describing the summer of 2020 makes you feel completely bananas. I’ve left out a lot of what’s stuffed into the movie, including a proposed data center to be built by a corporation called “solidgoldmagikarp,” a name apparently referring to one of three things: a Pokemon semi-meme, an obscure Reddit handle, or a word that seems to send ChatGPT into an erratic, hallucinatory state — no, I’m not joking.

That’s a good little key to this whole movie, which is loaded up with Easter eggs for things nobody feels nostalgic about. Do any of those references mean anything? No, not really: Instead, “Eddington” sets us not-so-gently adrift on a sea of very recent memories and the nausea they re-prompt, and waves merrily from the shore as we turn green.

That’s not to say it’s a drag. Not in the least. Your mileage will vary according to your stomach for this stuff, but I found myself breathless with giggles at times, sometimes the therapeutic laugh of recognition and sometimes because Aster has a keen eye for what’s most absurd about human nature. By the third act, things veer toward violent slapstick, crossing particularly berserk western gore with Looney Tunes. It’s tempting to call it satire, but satire exaggerates in order to prompt reflection and make a point. “Eddington” aims less for the moral lesson than full-on farce.

Yet the film can’t help but make a point, perhaps in spite of itself. People are scattered and sparse in many of the shots, both because of the grand Southwestern landscape and because everyone’s socially distanced. Thus emptied, the town looks a little destitute, like it’s seen better days and is susceptible to random acts of violence which, of course, it is. I found myself thinking of the photographs of Gregory Crewdson, who stages scenes of emptiness and decay capturing the desperate loneliness and isolation of life in small American towns and, as it turns out, Aster was thinking of Crewdson too: He invited the photographer to make a fine art print on the set.

And though my brain tingled with some other recognition while I watched “Eddington,” it wasn’t until my second viewing that I realized the zaps were coming from the region devoted to Todd Haynes’s eerie, disquieting 1995 movie “Safe.” I’ve been trying to figure out why, since the two films aren’t really the same at all — “Safe” is a psychological thriller, and “Eddington” is best described, I guess, as dystopian conspiracy western comedy. There are a few thematic harmonies; in the latter half of “Safe,” for instance, the suburban housewife Carol White (Julianne Moore) goes to a wellness retreat in New Mexico run by a guru somewhat similar in vibe, if not in appearance, to Vernon Jefferson Peak. Both films also have to do with the fear of contracting an illness that nobody can see and that nobody understands.

But the link, I think, is something more serious. In “Safe,” Carol’s life is already antiseptic and perfectly manicured, and the more her symptoms progress, the more she becomes isolated and less able to discern what is real. In “Eddington,” the screens drive the isolation, erecting imaginary barriers that make formerly unimaginable behavior seem not just conceivable but necessary. Both of these movies are fundamentally about living in a culture of heightened isolation, in which we begin to believe that simply being near one another means catching something bad; and both take a metaphorical tack, using real illness to stand in for a more metaphysical and social one. They show us visual worlds with people surrounded by empty space. What fills that empty space? We can only imagine. Bits of data. Unseen enemies. Honest threats. Threats we invent to ignore the real ones.

Eddington
Rated R for, oh, pretty much anything you can imagine, but mostly language and violence. Running time: 2 hours 28 minutes. In theaters.

Dear Commons Community,

Former Vice President Kamala Harris will not throw her hat in the ring to become California’s next governor after her failed presidential bid last year.

“I love this state, its people, and its promise. It is my home,” Harris said in a statement yesterday. “But after deep reflection, I’ve decided that I will not run for Governor in this election.”

Californians are expected to choose a replacement for term-limited Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) in 2026.

Since Trump retook the White House, Harris had been rumored to be a serious contender for her state’s governor’s mansion. She had reportedly given herself a deadline to make a decision by the end of summer.

In her statement, the former vice president said she has spent the last six months “reflecting on this moment in our nation’s history, and the best way for me to continue fighting for the American people and advancing the values and ideals I hold dear.”

“I am a devout public servant, and from the earliest days of my career, I have believed that the best way I could make a difference in people’s lives and fight for a better future was to improve the system from within,” Harris said, adding that it had been an honor to fill the roles that defined her career.

“For now,” she said, “my leadership — and public service — will not be in elected office. I look forward to getting back out and listening to the American people, helping elect Democrats across the nation who will fight fearlessly, and sharing more details in the months ahead about my own plans.”

“Grateful for her service and friendship,” Newsom said of Harris in a statement. “Whether it be as a prosecutor, Attorney General, Senator, or Vice President she has always kept a simple pledge at the heart of every decision she’s made: For the People.”

Harris became a California state prosecutor in 2004 and later, in 2011, the state’s attorney general. She won a seat in the U.S. Senate in 2016 as a replacement for Sen. Barbara Boxer (D). In August 2020, former President Joe Biden picked her as his running mate after she dropped her own bid for the presidency.

Since leaving the Naval Observatory — the vice president’s home in Washington — Harris has maintained a relatively low public profile. She gave a speech at a women’s empowerment summit in April, using part of her time to lodge a wry rebuke against Trump’s second term.

“There were many things we knew were gonna happen,” she told the crowd, a nod to the frequent Project 2025 references she made in her stump speeches.

“I’m not gonna say ‘I told you so,’” she added, to cheers.

With Harris out, there is no clear front-runner in California governor’s race.

The Democratic side includes former Rep. Katie Porter, former U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Xavier Becerra, former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and current Lt. Gov. Eleni Kounalakis.

The Republican side includes former Fox News host Steve Hilton and antisemitic jokester Kyle Langford.

Villaraigosa commended Harris for her decision and commitment to public service, saying in a statement that Harris “will continue to be a powerful voice for justice, equality, and opportunity.”

Interesting decision.  It also leaves open the possibility of her running for president in  2028.

Tony

Courtesy of Liz Yap/Education Week

Dear Commons Community,

Yesterday, OpenAI, the research laboratory that created ChatGPT, unveiled a new “study mode” feature. The new feature aims to turn the popular generative artificial-intelligence app from an answer engine into a personal tutor.  As reported in Education Week.

“Learning requires friction, it takes effort, curiosity, and grappling with ideas,” said Leah Belsky, the vice president and general manager of education at OpenAI, during a July 28 press briefing. “So the question on our minds as we built this product was, how can we guide students toward using AI in ways that encourage true, deeper learning? How do we make it easier and more intuitive for them to use ChatGPT in this way?”

ChatGPT, an AI-powered tool that can hold humanlike conversations and instantly answer seemingly any prompt, and other similar tools have become a headache for some K-12 teachers, who see generative AI as a way for students to easily cheat on assignments or circumvent learning. Skeptics have also raised concerns about the technology’s potential effects on people’s cognitive skills.

Still, generative AI experts have touted the technology’s potential to transform K-12 education into a more personalized learning experience for students.

The ChatGPT study mode is “the first step” in ensuring that there is “real learning” happening when students are using AI tools, Belsky said.

Nick Phillips, a math teacher at Trinity High School in Washington, Pa., said it’s “awesome” for OpenAI to add this feature.

“If a student can [have scaffolding] without having the teacher there,” Phillips said, “then that can be helpful for a lot of students that maybe just need a little bit more of a step-by-step process or just a study partner.”

ChatGPT’s study mode feature would have been nice to have from the beginning, he said, but it’s a good signal that OpenAI is adjusting its features based on students’ and teachers’ needs.

The new ChatGPT feature is especially useful for homework help, test prep, and learning new topics, according to OpenAI. However, ChatGPT isn’t the first generative AI tool to have a feature that guides students to get to the answer on their own, revise an essay, or have their own personalized tutor. Other ed-tech companies have also launched student-focused AI features. For example, the nonprofit Khan Academy launched Khanmigo, a personalized tutor for students, in 2023. And big AI platforms such as Google’s Gemini and Microsoft’s Copilot can be prompted to guide users to learn rather than just spitting out an answer.

How does the ChatGPT study mode feature work?

With ChatGPT study mode, students can type in a question and ChatGPT will respond with interactive prompts to promote active learning. It will also reply with scaffolded responses to help students make connections with topics they already know. It can also provide quizzes, open-ended questions, and other ways to test and apply the students’ new knowledge.

For instance, a student could go to the ChatGPT study mode and ask it to help understand what positive and negative feedback loops mean in biology. ChatGPT study mode would then ask a few introductory questions (What grade level are you in? Have you seen these topics before? What’s your goal in learning this topic?) to help gauge the student’s current understanding and continue guiding or teaching from there.

The technology is designed to keep helping the student get to the answer, even if the student prompts it to give them the answer. (Though, of course, the student can also just switch off study mode and get to the answer more quickly. There are currently no guardrails against that, according to OpenAI.)

“When students use study mode, they’re met with guiding questions, and an experience that is customized to that level,” said Abhi Muchhal, who’s on OpenAI’s product team, during the press briefing. “This is intentional because we want this to be learner-led and [for it to] figure out what is the right thing that each learner is optimizing for and then customize the response according to that.”

The feature was designed with college students in mind, but is fully accessible for high school students, too, according to OpenAI. It was created in collaboration with teachers, cognitive scientists, and pedagogy experts to reflect “behaviors that support deeper learning,” the company said in its press release.

Study mode is available for all ChatGPT users, whether they’re using the platform’s free version or one of its paid options. Users can access the feature by selecting the “study and learn” option from the tools in the ChatGPT interface. Those within the ChatGPT Edu version, OpenAI’s product for education geared mostly for higher education, will get the feature “in the coming weeks,” the company said.

How will this feature affect K-12?

Glenn Kleiman, a senior adviser at Stanford University’s graduate school of education, said the feature is generally “a good thing that should help educators,” but without having tried it, he mostly has questions: If it was designed for a college-age user, then is it also appropriate for younger students who end up using it? How well does it really work at engaging students’ deeper learning and incorporating the craft of good teaching?

“These are unknowns at this point,” he said.

ChatGPT study mode has the same age restrictions as the normal version: anyone 13 or older can use it; those ages 13 to 17 need parental consent before using the app, according to OpenAI. The study mode also has the same safeguards when it comes to the creation of explicit, illegal, or harmful content, according to OpenAI. (There have been reports of people using ChatGPT for harm or even self-harm.)

OpenAI has also partnered with various researchers to study and share how its tools influence learning outcomes.

“We intend to publish a deeper analysis of what we’ve learned about the links between model design and cognition, shape future product experiences based on these insights, and work side by side with the broader education ecosystem to ensure AI benefits learners worldwide,” the company said in a press release.

Phillips, who encourages his students to use AI to check their work or for help getting unstuck on a complicated math problem, said the only concern he has is the same concern he’s had about generative AI tools from the get-go: the technology’s tendency to get things wrong.

“You’d better be pretty confident it’s going to give you correct answers,” he said.

It would probably be a good idea for teachers to try it out and figure out its capabilities and limitations, which they can then show their students, Phillips said.

Tony

Michael Steiper

Dear Commons Community,

The State University of New York Board of Trustees voted yesterday to name Michael Steiper, Ph.D. as the seventh president of Purchase College. Dr. Steiper has served in administrative capacities at CUNY’s the College of Staten Island and Hunter College. Below is the announcement from the SUNY Board of Trustees.

Congratulations Dr. Steiper!

Tony

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New York, NY – The State University of New York Board of Trustees voted today to name Michael Steiper, Ph.D. as the seventh president of Purchase College. Dr. Steiper currently serves as Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs at CUNY’s College of Staten Island. The appointment is effective August 11. During today’s meeting, SUNY Chancellor John B. King Jr. and the SUNY Board of Trustees thanked Dr. Milly Peña for serving as Purchase College’s president and recognized her service to the Purchase community.

“Purchase College is a leader in accessible and extraordinary arts and arts-adjacent education and is an outstanding liberal arts institution,” said SUNY Chancellor King. “This storied college has a proud history of supporting students and helping them grow, create, and inspire, and SUNY looks forward to working with Dr. Steiper as he leads Purchase through the institution’s next chapter.”

The SUNY Board of Trustees said, “We commend Dr. Steiper on being appointed to serve as Purchase College’s new president, and are confident that he will help take Purchase College to new heights. As an academic, administrator, musician, and lifetime New Yorker, Dr. Steiper’s experience on-and-off the campus will help support a strong future for Purchase College.”

Dr. Michael Steiper said, “I am honored and thrilled to be selected as the next president of Purchase College, SUNY. With its renowned conservatories and outstanding liberal arts and sciences programs, Purchase is a rare gem in higher education where both critical thinking and creativity thrive. Throughout the search process, I have been inspired by the dynamism of the Purchase community. It is a campus where deeply engaged faculty and dedicated staff nurture the aspirations of exceptionally talented students. I am committed to building on Purchase’s vibrant culture to advance its mission of access and excellence, enhance student success and opportunity, and expand Purchase’s impact across New York and beyond. I am grateful to the SUNY Board of Trustees, Chairman Tisch, Chancellor King, the Purchase College Council, Chair Glazer, and the Search Committee for their confidence and support.”

Dennis Glazer, Purchase College Council Chair and Presidential Search Chair, said, “After a comprehensive nationwide search, Purchase College has a terrific new President in Dr. Michael Steiper. Dr. Steiper’s intellect, experience, and highly collaborative leadership style are an excellent match for our campus. Our College Council, Foundation Board, faculty, staff and students were all part of the selection process and we very much look forward to partnering with President Steiper as we build on the special community that is Purchase College.”

About Dr. Michael Steiper

Dr. Michael E. Steiper is a mission-driven academic leader dedicated to faculty and student success who currently serves as Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs at CUNY’s College of Staten Island (CSI). At CSI, Dr. Steiper coordinated the campus’ vision for student success, contributing to strong increases in student retention and growth in enrollment. In his current capacity, he oversees the development and implementation of academic programs and policies and represents the campus on CUNY system-wide initiatives.

Prior to his time at CSI, Dr. Steiper spent two decades at Hunter College, where he had roles as a faculty member and administrator, most recently as Associate Provost for Academic Success, Institutional Effectiveness and Strategic Analytics. During his time at Hunter, he served as the inaugural director of Hunter’s Human Biology Program, now the college’s second largest major. He led an active research lab that explored key questions in primate evolution and mentored students at all levels, many of whom have gone on to careers in academia and STEM fields.

As a biological anthropologist, Dr. Steiper’s research centers on human and primate evolution, with particular emphasis on primate molecular evolution, the relationship between genetic and fossil records, and the interplay between skeletal and genetic variation. His work primarily utilizes genetic and bioinformatic techniques, and he has participated in paleontological fieldwork across three continents.

Dr. Steiper is a lifelong New Yorker and current Westchester resident who earned his Ph.D. and MA from Harvard University and his bachelor’s from New York University.

About the State University of New York
The State University of New York is the largest comprehensive system of higher education in the United States, and more than 95 percent of all New Yorkers live within 30 miles of any one of SUNY’s 64 colleges and universities. Across the system, SUNY has four academic health centers, five hospitals, four medical schools, two dental schools, a law school, the country’s oldest school of maritime, the state’s only college of optometry, and manages one US Department of Energy National Laboratory. In total, SUNY serves about 1.4 million students amongst its entire portfolio of credit- and non-credit-bearing courses and programs, continuing education, and community outreach programs. SUNY oversees nearly a quarter of academic research in New York. Research expenditures system-wide are nearly $1.16 billion in fiscal year 2024, including significant contributions from students and faculty. There are more than three million SUNY alumni worldwide, and one in three New Yorkers with a college degree is a SUNY alum. To learn more about how SUNY creates opportunities, visit suny.edu.

JD Vance

Dear Commons Community,

A poll conducted by JL Partners  shows Vice President JD Vance as the “clear favorite” to succeed Trump, with 46% of Republican voters supporting him for the 2028 GOP presidential nomination. Other potential successors include Ron DeSantis (8%), Vivek Ramaswamy (7%), and Marco Rubio (6%). An Economist/YouGov survey also indicates Vance leads with 43% among Republicans.

Throughout his second term, President Donald Trump has joked about the possibility of a third term. The 22nd Amendment prohibits any president from being elected to more than two terms. Amending the Constitution proves difficult, as it requires a two-thirds majority in both the House and Senate or a two-thirds vote from state legislatures. Ratification by three-fourths of the states is also necessary for change, which has cast doubt on claims that Trump may seek a third term by way of amending the Constitution in his favor.

Vance seems the logical choice to succeed Trump as a GOP nominee but  a lot can happen between now and 2028.

Tony